A Puppy Present

Thanks so much to Roxanne at Champion of My Heart for sending the Kong Squeaker (durable teething formula no less) for Latte to seek out and attempt to destroy. The toy looked pretty big for the little one but Latte loves it.

Unfortunately, so does Java. She looks pretty darn dejected having to settle for her old Chicky squeak toy.

Besides chewing on the Kong and getting it to squeak occasionally, Latte also likes to bat the toy and chase it across the floor. Maybe she's part kitten?

For those who were wondering, the neighbors stolen car was found in an apartment parking lot behind K-Mart, a few blocks from my house.

I stopped into that K-Mart just a few days ago looking for a plant watering can. A car in the parking lot had "Honk if you're horny" painted onto the windows, along with a few stick figures doing stuff that stick figures just shouldn't do. Well that just kind of says it all, doesn't it? And I didn't even find a dang watering can.

I needed said watering can with dispersed little sprinkling holes for my latest project. I have plans to put some tomato plants and peppers into the pots I used last year on my front steps, plus some flowers in my pots that go around the house. And there are BIG dreams of having raised garden beds in my back yard to put in the plants that require more room like beans, zuccini, cucumbers, etc.

Some of these plants need to either be bought at a nursery or I need to plant seeds now to give them a head start. In an attempt to do things myself and save some money, I have some shelves and lights now to get some seedlings started.

This is all new to me so we'll see how it goes.

I also got totally engrossed with the idea of being a vermiculturist (someone who composts with worms). I have the start on collecting worm food.

And the bins and newspaper.

And 1000 red worms are ordered and coming through the mail. I know, I know, I know. What is wrong with me?

But I love this stuff! I so wanted to be a biologist or ecologist or something scientific and researchy but was discouraged in pursuing my interests as I've never appeared to be very smart. But I am absolutely fascinated by how miraculously our world works and maybe I'll prove all those naysayers wrong in my small scale way.

I think the worms and seeing garbage turn into rich compost will be very cool. Lord, I'm weird. But isn't that what people love about me? Watch this video and you may decide to be a worm farmer too.

Life with Dogs Goes On

Wrestle Mania continues at the Rose household. Ya kind of gotta wonder about the new addition. Is she cute?

 Or is she scary?

Or is she just plain weird?

Maybe all of the above.

Java, Latte, and I have been taking our recent walks in the woods behind the nearby library. I had the idea that these woods were pretty small and lame, but they became pretty interesting when I got lost in them.

There are some worn paths but then there are footpaths that break off in all sorts of directions where people (and deer) just decide to break their own trail.

I think the paths are more peaceful and pretty during the winter because there are less people out walking and biking. There were so many bird noises and rushing water sounds. It resembled a movie soundtrack of a jungle.

I also think that oak trees have more character without leaves than they do when they are greenly-leafed out.

Is it the white oaks that keep their leaves all winter? I like looking at them too. The rusty colors stand out so much against the snow.

About seven deer watched us walk by. They were far off in an adjoining field but still wary.

I didn't realize until yesterday (when I was lost) that the woods went far enough east to meet up with the Rum River.

I'm trying to fit long walks in after work everyday to burn off dog energy. Plus I want to expose Latte to lots of different environments too. But I need to get my butt in gear doing some serious clicker training because right now,  both dogs are pulling way too much during the walks and are not passing other dogs very well. Java still wants to jump and play and Latte want to run away from the dog. Imagine Maery being pulled in two directions and trying to keep her footing on the icy path. Not pretty.

The latest excitement in my life came yesterday when my neighbor came over and warned me her car had been stolen out of her garage Sunday evening while her family was in the house watching a movie. Their garage door had been open and the keys were in the car so she said I might want to keep my garage door closed (it was open when she came over). 

There had been a rash of similar thefts over the weekend. In fact, they found a stash of stolen property hidden in the cemetery at the end of our street. It doesn't help that the house next door to me has been abandoned and is standing empty with posters all over the doors proclaiming it's emptiness.

I think I might be in the hood. Who would have thought? But at least the neighbors watch out for each other. And I have dogs -- ferocious dogs.

Snowdogs

Thanks for all the birthday wishes! As part of my birthday celebration, I saw a show called "Wits" put on by MPR on Friday night. The performers included comedian Patton Oswalt and musician Grant Lee Phillips (who performed with REM and Pearl Jam, but is best known to me as Stars Hollows Troubadour on  Gilmore Girls).

Sadly, the MPR host John Moe was tiresome and rather than have Patton do a standup act, they did a pathetic monologue that sounded like something they'd dreamed up an hour before the show.

The saving factor was Grant Lee Phillips. I enjoyed his music and he was also funny -- a lot funnier than Patton, which I don't blame on Patton but on the format of the show itself.

Anyway, enough about that, lets move on to something really exciting! I feel like a parent of a newborn, but this is so awesome! Latte slept through the night last evening! And she didn't whine, bark, or whimper even once! Yeh!!!

To accomplish this feat, we went on a very long walk through the snow, which I think wore me out more than the dogs. I was nodding off on the couch by about 9:00 PM.

We went to the Rum River park again. The paths were a little more tromped down this time, but not everywhere and it was still a lot of work trudging through the snow. My calf muscles actually started to burn!

I think Latte is going to be a tough little dog. I didn't think she'd be able to go so far without tiring but she just plunges along, trying to keep up with Java and not having any issues doing so.

I'd like to thank the people who took the time to be creative on the trail. All you dog lovers have got to love this -- a snowdoggy!

Just relaxing on the bench and watching the river go by.

There was another snowdog farther down the path, staring off into the woods. Java barked in alarm at it as we approached. From Latte's tail tuckage, I don't think she was sure of the situation either.

The river is starting to rise and will continue to do so as the snow melts.

The most exciting part was when we reached a point in the trail that was flooded by the river. The area was somewhat iced over and shallow but you could hear the water under the ice and there was cracking noises and the ice was so slippery that I think the only way to get across it would have been to scoot on my butt.

So we followed footprints that went off to the left, away from the river, assuming that someone knew a way around. Hmmm... I have no photos of what we went through to get around the flooding because I was carrying Latte and fighting for my life amidst nasty thorn bushes tearing at my clothes, branches trying to gouge out my eyes, and there was this little, shallow stream that we had to cross, jumping from branch to swamp grass clump to branch. We survived! I felt so adventurous.

I went to the stable in the morning to ride Luke. He looks thrilled doesn't he?

After the ride, I found several of the horses snoozing in the sun.

This is an itchy time of year for horses, as they start to shed out their winter coats. Nothing as good as back-scratching roll.

And here are a couple other sure signs of Spring. Yes, that is actually a bug. There were several of these down by the river.

And the monster icicle that it's best to avoid walking under.

So I wonder what I'll have to do today to get a good night's sleep?

They Say It's My Birthday

About a month ago, I decided I would take today and tomorrow off as a birthday mini-vacation and retreat. You know, contemplate the meaning of life and figure out what I want to do with what's left of said life. Plus I wanted to write and do some other fun stuff.

Then I got a puppy. I still took the days off but they are being spent trying to acclimate Latte Da to her new home, work on some puppy training stuff, and just figure out how this is all going to work.

The highlight of my birthday was when my birth mom called and sang Happy Birthday to me. She sang the Marilyn Monroe version of Happy Birthday while I was out walking the dogs in the woods and struggling to keep them from wrapping around my legs.

I spent the morning debating about how I could take the dogs for a walk at the Rum River park but still make a few stops to carry out some errands. I've taken Latte in the car but haven't left her unsupervised where she might do who knows what.

Should my first stop be to pick up a travel crate just to play it safe? Then I remembered that when I first drove around with Java, I put down plastic in the back of the Mini, which I covered up with a blanket. So that's what I tried with Latte.

First we stopped at the license bureau so I could buy new county park passes. They were short-handed so it took longer than I'd hoped, but when I got back to the car, Java was in the driver seat and Latte was laying down in the back. So far, so good.

Then we went to the Rum River park. I hadn't considered that since we just got a bunch more snow, there probably would not be a groomed walking path.

I was afraid Latte wouldn't be able to go very far bounding through the deep snow, but she's a little go- getter. She did her puppy-piston run alongside Java for awhile, then dropped behind me and walked in our footprints. Once she'd taken a breather, she'd be back to running through the snow again.

Everyone in Minnesota is pretty sick of the snow, especially getting hit again after it was almost all gone, but it is pretty and probably won't hang around for very long.

We didn't get far enough into the park to reach the river. I didn't want to end up having to carry Latte back out again. Walking past a few ponds was good enough.

So we got back into the car and went to the library so I could return some books and check out these:

I'm not going to read all of them. I grabbed a few that looked promising and figured I'd do a deeper scan at home. I generally pick and choose the information out of a group of books that addresses some of my questions. Usually I'll be more attracted to one author's style of presenting information than another's.

Some of these books are text heavy and more about understanding dog behavior and their needs than the nitty gritty of training. I like understanding why something works and why something else doesn't. I think that's important when it comes to making adjustments to suit different animal personalities.

If you are familiar with any of these books, please let me know what you think.

When I got back to the car, both dogs were laying down in the back of the Mini. Hey, this was working out pretty good. As a reward, I took the dogs out of the car again and walked a path that runs through the woods behind the library. A few people had already walked that path, someone had even skied it, so it was a little easier for Latte (and me) to walk on.

For having started out this morning at 7 degrees, it had turned into a gorgeous day. I had to take off my hat and gloves and unzip my jacket it felt so warm in the sun. The sun, ah the sun. It was glorious!

After that walk, we stopped at the coop so I could buy a few groceries, and then we went home. I thought the dogs would be pooped, but they had another one of their wrestling matches in the living room. All Star Wrestling seems to go on at my house almost non-stop. I can't believe how they keep going at it.

The second highlight of my birthday was this card I received from my cousin. There was a note inside telling me that anyone who could eat Hormel Chili and Fritos like we did when we were kids could certainly handle a stack of Oreos.

The third highlight of my birthday is that so far today has been a puppy accident free day. Of course, I've watched Latte Da like crazy and have let her out every two hours but I tried to do that yesterday and there were four accidents. So I'm pretty happy with today's progress.

But now I'm going to settle down and watch a movie while I eat my birthday pizza and have my birthday beer and enjoy letting sleeping dogs lie.

Where Did Spring Go?

When I saw my neighbor plowing the end of his driveway with his heavy duty snowblower and he looked like this:

I knew it did not bode well for me with my itty, bitty snowblower. And I was right. The snow was so wet, it was like trying to push your blower through a slushy. The icy, wet mixture completely clogged the blower paddle and shoot so nothing was spitting out.

I was about ready to sit in a snow bank and cry, thinking of how much pain my shoulders were going to be in if I had to shovel my very wide driveway completely by hand when, Tada! My neighbor took pity on this elderly woman and blew out my entire driveway for me while I shoveled the steps and hard to reach spots.

It amazed me the drastic change from having almost all the snow melted away to having up to 6 inch snow drifts in some spots.

Java was in her element but Latte was a bit reluctant to head outside. I mean the poor girl came from Kentucky and has only been here for a week. But she adapted.

I am thinking that the suggestions that Latte may have some Welsh Corgi, Jack Russell, and perhaps some Sheltie in her might have merit. Are any of those breeds known for tooting? Maybe that and the hiccups are just a puppy and adjusting to new food and surroundings thing.

I've had such easy going dogs - no chewing on furniture, socks, shoes or anything but their own toys; no scratching at doors or cupboards; they went into their kennel, bathtub or wherever I wanted them by simply pointing; and they slept without whimpering all night long.

In other words, I've been utterly spoiled and Latte Da is giving me a run for my money and challenging me to search for information on housetraining, crate training, and avoiding household destruction training.

Don't get me wrong. She's not bad. She's pretty typical. It's my other dogs that have been freaks.

I'm kind of excited about learning more about clicker training and improving my training techniques with both dogs, but it's difficult with being gone at work all day. I've been running home at noon this week but I can't keep that up every day so I'm looking for doggy daycare to use until she's able to go for longer periods of time without relieving herself. Right now, she goes about every two hours!

If anyone has any recommendations about books or videos on training puppies and dogs, I'd love to hear about them.

The class I took with Java helped me understand a few things but there were many things we didn't actually practice enough and so it just didn't click with me (pun intended).

Plus I'm debating about whether to get a smaller crate for Latte that I can use in the car. It's between that and a waterproof cover for the back of the Mini, but the smaller crate might also be better for crating her at night and during the day.

The Java sized crate I have might be too big. I just wish I knew how big Latte's going to get. It's hard to spend a lot of money on something the dog may possibly outgrow in a month.

(She likes my Carhartt insulated bib overhauls. She has good taste.)

I appreciate Java's efforts to wear Latte out so she sleeps at night but I still end up taking her out a couple times during the night.

It will get better I'm sure -- in about nine months.